WHO YOU WILL MEET

SeaShorts Film Festival 2018

Festival Guests and Biography

Rithy Panh I SeaShorts Competition Jury I Cambodia l Aug 1-5

Rithy Panh is a film documentary director and screenwriter who brought Cambodian cinema to the international stage by being the first to submit Cambodian films for the Oscars. His notable works include: ‘The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine’ (2013), ‘The Missing Picture’ (2013), and ‘First They Killed My Father’ (2017).

Pimpaka Towira l SeaShorts Competition Jury I Thailand l Aug 1-5

Pimpaka was a pioneer among female film directors in the Thai independent film scene since the early 1990s. Her films include ‘One Night Husband’ (2003), ‘The Truth Be Told’ (2007), ‘The Island Funeral' (2015), all having been collectively played at many international film festivals. Since 2017, she has been the Programme Director of Singapore International Film Festival.

Philip Cheah is film critic and editor of "BigO", Singapore's independent publication on pop culture. He works for Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival, Hanoi Film Festival, and Shanghai International Film Festival. He is also a patron of SEA Screen Academy in Indonesia.

Isazaly Mohd Isa l SeaShorts Competition Jury I Malaysia l Aug 2-5

Isazaly is a certified trainer for Blackmagicdesign and co-founder of kino-i, a Malaysian digital production house. He has been actively involved in Malaysian and Singaporean productions, garnering national endorsements such as Profesional-Tier in “Editing” by the Content Creative Industry Guild of Malaysia, and the National Certified Film/Video Editor by the Ministry Of Human Resource.

Liew Seng Tat I Next New Wave Award Competition Jury I Film Representative I Malaysia l Aug 1-5

A filmmaker with a unique comedic voice. His debut feature ‘Flower in the Pocket’ (2007) swept multiple awards and prizes in numerous international film festivals including Busan, Rotterdam, Fribourg, and Pesaro.

More than just an architect, and entrepreneur, Fransiska is also the Programme Director of Minikino and Minikino Film Week since 2015. Currently, she is preparing a thesis on short film festivals for her Masters of Tourism Studies at Udayana University.

Leong Pui Yee l SeaShorts Selection Committee I Singapore l Aug 1-3

Pui Yee is in charge of film programmes and projects at the OBJECTIFS Centre for Photography and Film. She is also the Programme Manager of the Singapore International Film Festival.

In all of his films, there is always a shot showing the words “I Love You Lau Shu Lin”. Jacky said that he will always film this shot until the girl sees it. Eventually, this became his motivation to make more films, his student film as well.

Park majored in Cinema at Chung-Ang University. Until 2013, he worked full-time for Busan International Film Festival as program coordinator for Asian Cinema and was the manager for Asian Film Academy. Currently, he is a programmer for Cambodia International Film Festival.

Based in Laos since 2008, Hélène Ouvrard is a consultant working in the Lao cultural sector. She is the co-director of Vientianale Film Festival and also curates programmes consisting of Lao short films for various festivals to promote emerging Lao filmmakers.

Umapagan Ampikaipakan I Panel Talk Moderator I Malaysia l Aug 4-5

Umapagan is BFM89.9’s radio producer and co-host of “The Evening Edition”. He is also a film critic on “At The Movies” and literary critic on “Bookmark”, both being segments on BFM. When not on the radio, he runs the yearly “The Cooler Lumpur Festival” in KL.

Khoo Gaik Cheng I Panel Talk Moderator I Malaysia l Aug 1-10

Khoo Gaik Cheng is Associate Professor at The University of Nottingham where she teaches film and cultural studies. Gaik founded the Association of Southeast Asian Cinemas in 2004. Her publications focus on Malaysian cinema, food and civil society.

Amir Muhammad I Panel Talk Moderator I Malaysia l Aug 1-6

Amir Muhammad is a Malaysian writer, publisher, and occasional movie-maker. Since 2011, he has run Buku Fixi, a pulp-fiction publishing company which has produced over 170 books to date.

Happily trapped in the film world, Yow Chong Lee is an academic hoping to lure more young minds and souls into it. Since 2013, he has been directing and programming for Mini Film Festival, the longest existing students' film festival in Malaysia.

Alea Rahim is the Creative Producer of Astro Shaw, specializing in content development. Alea’s film career began in 2008 when she was in New York working with a crew. She has co-produced two feature films and was the co-organizer of the Shortcuts (2015) program.

Norman Yusoff teaches film studies in Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). With articles published in the Asian Cinema and the International Film Guide, he is also a film columnist with Mingguan Malaysia and curates the fortnightly Wayang Budiman programme.

Koyo Yamashita is the artistic director of Image Forum, initially established in 1971 as “Underground Film Centre”. Image Forum is Japan’s largest art film festival and the largest one dedicated to the screenings of new experimental films.

Choi Yoon l Fly Workshop Producer I South Korea l Aug 2-5

Choi Yoon is a film producer who has produced notable films such as 'Blue Swallow' (2005), 'Beautiful Sunday' (2007), and 'My Father' (2007). Previously, he served as the director of Busan Film Commission, Busan Asian Film School, and was President of the Asian Film Commissions Network (2016-2018). He was also the executive producer of FLY in 2016 and in 2017.

Gertjan Zuilhof, (born 1955, Netherlands) has been an art-house programmer based in Leiden, his university town, since 1974. He was formerly the programmer of International Film Festival Rotterdam. Currently, he is an independent programmer and exhibition curator.

Zai Kuning I Chronicles of Amnesia Film Director l Film Forum Panel Member l Return of the Salt Boy 'Riau' Film Director I Singapore l Aug 1-5

Zai Kuning is considered one of Singapore’s pioneer experimental artists and is recognised for his multitudinous roles, including painter, dancer, poet, sculptor, choreographer, actor, director, musician, playwright and filmmaker.